Speak up locally on concealed carry and students preferred names in school. The legislature shutting you out of the political process.
Don't like some of the laws passed by the legislature? Speak up to your county commissioners and local board of education to try and get what can be changed, changed.
A couple of particularly polarizing bits of legislation to come out of the legislature this session concerned concealed carry and allowing schoolchildren to insist schools call them by their preferred name.
I'm not here to argue the wisdom of either policy. When it comes to things like this, I'd rather talk action than complain. And so talk we will.
In that spirit, I want to let you know what you can do if you have concerns; both laws contain provisions that local officials have some discretion over.
Let's go in order.
I recently read (see the first link below) that Douglas County Commissioners chose to opt out of the part of the law (see the second link below) about whether or not people could concealed carry in government buildings.
I included a screenshot from the bill's fiscal note if you were curious at the specifics. See screenshot 1 attached.
I am not a lawyer, but in my reading I don't get the impression that this needs to be a county-only decision. That is, I'm pretty sure that this opting-out would apply equally well to city as well as county governments.
So recommendation number one for you, if you're concerned about your rights and want to advocate, would be to get in touch with any city and/or county governments you live under and make your thoughts known. Tell them that you'd like them to opt out just as Douglas County did.
The second opportunity to speak up on concerns the bill about students being able to ask schools to call them by their preferred name and to treat not doing so as discrimination.
I put an article and the bill itself below (links 3 and 4) if you're wanting to read up, but I excerpted the relevant part for this post out of the bill summary and attached as screenshot 2.
School districts must develop a policy around name change, but parts of that policy are left to to local officials' discretion. That means you have a chance (and should) make your thoughts known.
If you haven't yet, contact your school board and tell them your thoughts on what kind of policy you would like to see. If you're open to advice, you stand a much better chance of being heard and having productive discussions if you keep it at the level of policy here and keep it at the level of specific ideas that you think would be beneficial.
For example, my main concerns around this issue relate to parental notification. That is what I'll be advocating for; I'm less concerned with pronouns than I am with whether or not I as a parent will be allowed to know what's going on at my child's school. I will be pushing to have the policy include language that makes it so parents need to be notified if and when a student requests a particular name.
Take advantage of what opportunities you have to be involved in the process. In particular, take advantage of times where the politicians are closer to you and the decision is more local.
Regardless of what you think of either law, you do have a chance to have more impact with what you say when the issues come down to the level of local government. Take the opportunity.
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb24-131
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1039
Related:
After writing the above, I took some of my own sermon to heart and contacted my county (Logan) commissioner Jerry Sonnenberg. I will follow up with my city and board of education later.
Commissioner Sonnenberg said that Logan is already underway toward doing what DougCo did above; it was just that the county attorney didn't get the stuff written up in time for it to make a 24 hour advance notice on their last meeting, so they will take the issue up in June.
Glad I live in LoganCo and am thankful as always for Mr. Sonnenberg's responsiveness.
Shutting you out of the legislative process.
I'm pretty ambivalent about the bill linked below. It's about raising damage caps on malpractice insurance. Not a huge fan of that, save for perhaps thinking it's fair to ensure that the current caps keep pace with inflation (the bill raises the caps to stay up with inflation, but goes above it).
What frustrates me here is not the subject of the bill. It's the SCHEDULE of the bill.
I took a screenshot of it off the Bill History tab. Look carefully at the dates.
In committee and then out of the house on the 5th and 6th. In Senate Committee and out of the Senate on the 7th.
How on earth would everyday Coloradans hope to participate in this process with a schedule like that? Who could read the bill, make a considered opinion, and then get time out of a busy day to testify? Hell, forget testifying, who could write a cogent email in that time?
Further, I want you to think about the legislators who weren't sponsors. How much time, in the hectic end-of-session last few days, would they have to read and form a considered opinion of this bill? A bill which has major implications for insurance and lawsuits going forward?
This bill might be okay, but the process was not. Not in any way.
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1472